Important Constitutional Amendments

Applies to matters related to Citizenship, abolishing or creating second chambers in the states provisions relating to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, etc.

2. In this, the following conditions should be fulfilled :

Both the houses must pass the proposal by a majority of the total membership. By a 2/3 majority of the members present. After this, the amendment bill must also be ratified by not less than half of state legislatures. Applies to matters related to election of President and Vice – President, executive powers of union and states, subjects related to the division of legislative powers between Centre and State, matters relating to Supreme Court and High Court, representation of States in Parliament, amendment of article 368 itself, etc.

3. This method consists of first two conditions of the II method. In this, there is no need of ratification by the States.List of Important Amendments

1. First Amendment 1951 : Added Ninth Schedule.

2. Seventh Amendment 1956 : Necessitated on account of reorganization of States on a linguistic basis.

10. Twenty first Amendment 1967 : Included Sindhi as the Fifteenth Regional language.

11. Twenty second Amendment 1969 : Created a sub – state of Meghalaya within Assam.

12. Twenty third Amendment 1969 : Extended the reservation of seats for SC / ST and nomination of Anglo – Indians for a further period of 10 years (till 1 980).

13. Twenty sixth Amendment 1971 : Abolished the titles and special privileges of former rulers of princely states.

14. Twenty seventh Amendment 1971 : Established Manipur and Tripura as States and Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh as UTs.

15. Thirty first Amendment 1973 : Increased the elective strength of LS from 525 to 545.

The upper limit of representatives of States went up from 500 to 525.

16. Thirty sixth Amendments 1975 : Made Sikkim a State.

17. Thirty eighth Amendment 1975 : Provided that the President can make a declaration of emergency, and the promulgation of ordinances by the President, Governors and the Administrative Heads of UTs would be final and could not be challenged in any court.

It also authorized the President to declare different kinds of emergencies.

18. Thirty ninth Amendment 1975 : Placed beyond challenge in courts, the election to Parliament of a person holding the office of PM or Speaker and election of the President and Prime Minister.

19. Forty second Amendment 1976 : Provided supremacy of Parliament and gave primacy to Directive Principles over Fundamental Rights. It also added 10 Fundamental Duties.

New words – Socialist, Secular and Unity and Integrity of the Nation, were added in the preamble.

20. Forty fourth Amendment 1978 : The Right to Property was deleted from Part III. Article 352 was amended to provide ‘Armed Rebellion’ as one of the circumstances for declaration of emergency.

28. Seventy first Amendment 1992 : Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali were included in the VIII Schedule.

29. Seventy third Amendment 1993 : (Panchayati Raj Bill) Provided among other things Gram Sabha in Villages, constitution of panchayats at the village and other levels, direct elections to all seats in panchayats and reservation of seats for the SC and ST and fixing of tenure of 5 years for panchayats.

30. Seventy fourth Amendment 1993 : (Nagarpalika Bill) Provides for, among other things, constitution of three types of municipalities, reservation of seats in every municipality for the SC and ST, women and the backward classes.

31. Eighty second Amendment 2000 : Reinstalled the provision of reservation of SC and STs in matters related to promotion.

Besides, the qualifying marks for passing an examination for them have also been lowered.

33. Eighty sixth Amendment 2002 : Makes education a fundamental right for children in the age group of 6 – 14 years.

34. Eighty seventh Amendment 2003 : Made the 2001 census the basis for delimitation of constituencies of the Lower House of Parliament (Lok Sabha) and State assemblies (Vidhan Sabhas).

35. Ninety first Amendment 2003 : Amended the Anti – Defection Law and also made a provision that the number of ministers in the Central & State Govts, cannot be more than 15% of the strength of Lok Sabha & respected Vidhan Sabha.

37. Ninety third Amendment 2005 : To reserve seats for socially and educationally backward classes, besides the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, in private unaided institutions other than those run by minorities.